Is There a Market for Haunted Homes?

With a two-year-old and an eight-week-old at home, it’s not often that I get a chance to kick back and watch a little television. However, last Friday I was fortunate enough to get a couple of hours to zone out in front of the tube. I caught a show on the Travel Channel called “Ghost Adventures,” where a group of three “ghost hunters” lock themselves into a haunted location overnight and use various gizmos and gadgets to capture haunted activity.

This particular episode featured a young couple who had recently purchased Black Moon Manor in Greenfield, IN. Since their purchase, the couple has experienced “unexplained” activity and asked the “Ghost Adventures” crew to investigate. (Queue the “Ghost Busters” theme music.)

As the crew interviews the owners and videos the inside of the house you have to wonder, why on earth would anyone buy this property? Just one look at the house and you’d swear that Norman Bates was staring at you from the top window dressed in his mother’s finest. Of course, the history of the home is also quite Hitchcockian. In the early 1800s, Black Moon Manor was turned into an infirmary to treat victims of smallpox. Legend has it that 200 people lost their lives on the property.

Being in the real estate business, I couldn’t help but wonder how an agent would go about selling a house like this. For some reason, a home like Black Moon Manor doesn’t scream “SOLD!” in my book. Have you ever had to sell a home with a dark past and/or that was supposedly haunted?

1 Comment

I too watch GA Friday with Black Moon Manor and as a avid GAC fan I’m continually amazed at what they capture at people’s residences. I’ve been following the show since the beginning and one of my favorites is the Washoe Club in NV. I highly recommend watching the series.

[puts on broker hat]

A market for paranormal homes? I would think so yet it would be quiet limited due to the fact that people think of a home as a safe and predictable place. Adding ghost sightings or continuously unexplained events doesn’t portray that notion in my opinion. However, in large cities with many historical events, the East Coast has plenty, I think a business plan could be put together to market, sell, and buy homes with paranormal history.